R&D and productivity: In search of complementarity between research and development activities

The link between R&D and productivity has been widely analyzed. However, these innovation activities have been considered as a whole. This paper analyzes the differentiated effect of research and development on productivity and tests the existence of complementarity between these activities. We find evidence supporting the existence of a direct effect of both innovation activities. Most interesting, our results suggest that there is complementarity between research and development in determining productivity.